Duplex Complex
by EddieV
Summary: A family moves into a new house and discovers it's horrible secret.
1. 1 Moving In

1The front door swung open farther than Steven had pushed, thanks to the wind, and banged against the side wall. He cringed at the fresh dent there, then quickly put his back to it as his wife and children walked past him. Each of them carried a box sealed with packaging tape and marched into the den before carefully setting them down near the fireplace.

Lydia placed her hands on her hips. "Almost done with this room, so you kids can start grabbing your stuff off the truck."

They children cheered and raced each other back out the door. Steven grabbed his wife and dipped her, then kissed her intensely. She pulled back with a grin, "Save that for when we unpack our room."

He laughed. "More like when we christen the sheets."

Lydia smacked his arm playfully, "The kids might hear you!"

Steven took her up in his arms and kissed her again, Lydia wrapping her arms around his neck. "This house is incredible."

"Wait til tonight, then you'll see incredible." He widely grinned.

He hoisted her up and carried her off toward the staircase, as she threw back her head and laughed.

As the lovers climbed the stairs, the unseen man they passed took a drag from his cigarette then stared straight ahead.

* * *

"Submitted for your approval," he spoke, "a normal family, whom we'll call the Rendell's, settling into what appears to be a normal home in a quiet neighborhood. A seemingly clean, warm house with no real problems, except for the problem that this home is already occupied." The man tipped his ashes onto the floor, "And these residents have a warning for the Rendell family: stay away from the basement. For it is within that basement that lies the biggest problem 56 West Clover Lane has. Strategically placed behind a line of shelves is a door that opens up a once hidden secret released by the tenants before them. A door...to The Twilight Zone."

* * *

As Steven rummaged through his box of shirts, Lydia cut the tape on the box before her. She spotted the towels and linens for the hall closet.

"Knock, knock!" A high pitched voice rang out. They both turned to see Patricia Harly, the realtor, standing in the open doorway.

Lydia smiled, setting down the wash cloths on the floor. "Hi Patty, what brings you by?"

Patricia opened her purse, "I forgot to give you the keys to the front and back doors..." She then produced three keys, each one brass and ornate, save for the last one.

Steven took the first two while Lydia looked over the final key.

"What's this?"

Patricia tapped the key, "That's the house's skeleton key. It'll open any door inside here. So if you do change the locks like we talked about earlier, don't forget to have another one of those made."

The skeleton key was a deep red, much darker than the others Steven held. Lydia turned it over and spotted a carving of an odd creature along the back. A cross between a dragon and a lion, it's mouth was open in a roar, revealing many rows of jagged teeth.

"Okay, that's all," Patricia shut her purse and shook their hands, "I hope you two have the best luck with this house."

They bid each other farewell, and Patricia slung her purse over her shoulder as she walked out toward her car. She pulled her keys from her coat pocket and opened the door, then climbed in. As she pulled it shut, a hand grabbed the edge and forced it open.

A young man's face sneered at her, "So you finally sold it, huh?"

Patricia Harly narrowed her eyes at him, "Get away from me you little freak."

He smiled, "Scared Ms. Harly? You should be. Remember what it looked like when you found the Conner's?"

Patricia wrenched the door closed, starting the engine, she rolled down her window, "There's nothing wrong with that house."

The young man scoffed, "Keep telling yourself that."

Patricia scowled as she pulled out of the drive, "You leave these people alone. Just go to hell!"

He waved at her as she sped away, "Your already there Ms. Harly."


	2. Chapter 2: Cruel Memories

The young man slid a hand through his brown hair and gazed ahead at the house. It was just a house to anyone else, to anyone without any knowledge of what happened there. That's what people like Patricia Harly fed upon; naïve strangers ready to throw down their dollars for any morsel of the American Dream. It was her fuel, her life blood. He felt like gagging.

He watched from the driveway as the two adults began pointing at the furniture and then different areas of the living room. He felt a stinging in his nostrils as tears welled into his eyes, but he quickly blinked them away. It was all too familiar.

Suddenly, flashes of the past torn across his vision. His mother was hanging curtains in the den, laughing as his father fumbled with the curtain rod. Terry and Gina were hula-hooping on the front lawn, giggling and waving as he was coming up the walk with his backpack from the bus stop.

The scene was gone but the pain in his temples slowly becoming a migraine was still present. He swayed slightly at where he stood, the bout of vertigo passing as it always did.

_Take it slow_, he thought. _Can't approach them yet. Gotta take time to let them discover what you say isn't the ramblings of some mental patient._

Her chuckled at the notion of himself still hospitalized before he made his leave down the street.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lydia was setting out paper plates on the table as Steven spooned out macaroni into a serving bowl. He gazed down at the plates, "Not gonna crack out the good stuff just yet?

"I figured," Lydia began, opening the box of plastic utensils, "Soon as we get everything ELSE unpacked and we've introduced ourselves around the block, we could throw a house warming party and really break in the dishes!"

Steven grinned, "Been watching _Desperate Housewives _again?"

She chuckled, "Silence knave! Now summon thy children!"

"As you wish my liege." With a bow he set down the pot and walked into the den.

Steven was simply astounded by the state of the house. It was immaculate, large enough for the wear and tear of growing children and had more than enough space for a generation or two. He and Lydia were most attracted to the previous owners taste; they had put down cherry lacquered hardwood in all the halls and lush brown berber carpet everywhere except the bathroom. There, they installed Italian tiles of a off orange hue that matched the countertops. Lydia has fallen in love as soon she saw them.

Steven was still smiling as he entered the living room. The walls were bare, but he could envision his artwork across all the walls. The tingle of inspiration he hadn't felt back in Portland was rising and spreading across his neck and down to his hands.

_Soon as I get out my easel and paints, this place is gonna be my studio. Count on that!_

He suddenly heard tiny voices from somewhere in the empty room. They seemed far away, but he could just make out what they said. Scanning the room Steven spotted a vent near the floor across from the front window. As he approached, he had to crouch down and put as ear to the metal slats to comprehend them.

"You sure we can be down here?"

He recognized Dana's voice, uneasy and awkward before his other daughter answered.

"They're still cooking. It'll be awhile before they come looking." Sophie was moving away from Dana, farther into what Steven perceived as the basement.

Martin's voice floated up from near where Dana had spoken. "They said not to just go exploring. Who knows what's down here? Like….goliath spiders!"

Steven heard Dana squeal in disgust. She hated spiders with a passion. Sophie snorted and her voice became more distant. "Then Dana can go upstairs and be a baby in her room." As the elders of the trio, Steven began to catch on to Martin and Sophie's teasing and desertion of Dana. He could recall the times when they left her in favor of their friends or when they relentlessly teased her arachnophobia.

Steven's mind fluttered away to last year, when he came home to his older children standing in the kitchen, each in a different corner facing the wall. Lydia, sitting at the dining table informed him that at dinner, Dana wouldn't leave her room. Even after being cajoled, then threatened with grounding, Lydia picked the lock with a butter knife. She told Steven how Dana was sitting in the center of the room and all the toys which had been messily left on the floor, were now pushed into a circle around her. She began rocking back and forth, whispering to herself. Lydia, horrified, ran to her daughter.

But Dana was unresponsive. She was still swaying rhythmically, muttering, "Can't get ME. Can't get ME. Can't get ME." Lydia had to shake her daughter for a good minute until she could speak more than the three words, where Dana began crying. She started screaming when Lydia tried to move her from the circle, yelling that she didn't want to get eaten. Martin and Sophie appeared in the doorway, about to laugh but stopped dead when they saw their sister's state.

Lydia instantly saw this and demanded they tell her what they had done. After more yelling, they broke down and revealed how they tricked Dana into watching a video on . Lydia told Steven that she was afraid it was that "2 Girls 1 Cup" monstrosity everyone had been speaking about, but thankfully it wasn't. Instead, they told Dana that it was the trailer to the new Spongebob Squarepants movie and she sat in the computer chair gleefully.

But the video was of a large Goliath spider slowly and graphically killing and eating a mouse. Whoever had filmed it zoomed in on the mouse's death throes, and it gave a bloodcurdling animal scream before dying. Dana had tried to leave but Martin and Sophie held her and forced her to watch, even holding open her eyes. As soon as they finished speaking, Lydia did what she later regretted, not only as a mother, but as Steven's wife. She viciously slapped Martin across the face, then Sophie, and stared them in the face.

"You ever,_ EVER_, put your hands on your sister like that again, and I'll make sure you won't have hands to do it again. Understand?" When then stood in shocked silence, she screamed, "UNDERSTAND?" until they nodded before dragging them into the kitchen for their punishment. After that day, Dana spoke less and began keeping to herself, only opening up to her few friends at school. And she began to hate any and all spiders.

Steven felt a red hot anger boiling into his chest. They were luring Dana into something again, he believed. He stood and strode into the dining room where his wife was sneaking a taste of the Jell-O for dessert. Caught in the act, she jumped and began coughing.

"Steven! Ack! Where the kids?" She managed.

Steven smiled at her and grabbed her hand. He lead her past the the fridge and garage to the basement door.

"We're gonna teach our children a lesson." He said.


End file.
